25.2: The War for Europe and North Africa OBJECTIVE: Understand how the Allies defeated Italy and Germany

America at War:  FDR’s STRATEGY:  1. Attack Germany first: save USSR and UK  a. Hitler is enemy #1  b. Stalin is desperate for help  c. Britain and Russia will only help us if we can defeat Germany first  2. Attack Japan second: give ground in Pacific  PROBLEM: Will America arm itself (and its Allies) in time?  CONCERN: Were totalitarian warriors better than citizen- soldiers?

Battle of the Atlantic US was able to produce 140 of these ships A MONTH!!!  America’s ships were being destroyed at a rapid pace at the start  Germany had destroyed 681 Allied ships in 7 months  Convoy system  German losses had reached an “unbearable height”

Battle of Stalingrad Operation Barbarossa: August 1942-February ,000 Germans invade, only 91,000 survive/POWs Soviets suffer 1,250,000 military and civilian casualties. SIGNIFICANCE: Turning point of war on Eastern Front

WWII: European Theatre ACT I 1942 & 1943: War in the Atlantic Allied Convoys v. “Wolf pack” of German U- Boats 1942: Allies turn the tide Halt Germans at El Alemein and Stalingrad 11/ /1943: North Africa Campaign Rommel & Patton 6/1943: Invasion of Italy Surrender of Italy, Mussolini executed Allies invade the “soft underbelly” of Europe After months of fighting, Allies are able to push the Germans out Mussolini is arrested, shot and hung in Milan square

The Allies on the Offensive in Europe, The United States pursued a "Europe first" policy: first defeat Germany, then focus on Japan. American military efforts began in North Africa in late 1942 and ended in Germany in 1945 on May 8 (V-E Day). Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

WWII: European Theatre ACT II 6/6/1944: D-Day – Normandy Allies, Patton, Liberation of Paris, Soviet Advance 12/16/1944: Battle of the Bulge German Counter-Offensive, Siege of Bastogne 4/1945: The Bitter End Soviet and American forces meet at Elbe Berlin Falls, Hitler commits suicide FDR dies, Truman 5/8/1945: V-E Day FDR dies, Truman now President

Operation Overlord: D-Day June 6, million allied soldiers, 4,600 vessels Beachheads: UTAH, OMAHA / GOLD, JUNO, SWORD

Battle of the Bulge Dec Jan Last ditch attempt by Hitler Created a “bulge” in the line Germans lost 120,000 men, 600 tanks, 1,600 planes They could not replenish these numbers

Liberation of the Death Camps “We started smelling a terrible odor and suddenly we were at the concentration camp at Landsberg. Forced the gate and faced hundreds of starving prisoners… We saw emancipated men whose thighs were smaller than our wrists many had bones sticking through their skin…Also we saw hundreds of burned and naked bodies….That evening I wrote to my wife that “For this is the first time I truly realized the evil of Hitler and why this war had to be waged.” - Robert Johnson

V-E Day: Victory in Europe Day  Allies invaded Germany  Hitler commits suicide to avoid disgrace on April 29  Germany gives unconditional surrender on May 8, 1945

TERMS  Dwight D. Eisenhower  D-Day  George Patton  Harry S. Truman  Battle of the Bulge  V-E Day  OBJECTIVE: Understand how the Allies defeated Italy and Germany